I picked up Mr Wayne because (1) I’m a fan of his movies and (2) I had over a thousand freemium clams built up.
Positives: Really speeds up week one, and I hope he’ll help with following weeks. (I’m looking at the time and tasks required, and I’m not sure if I could have finished Week One within a week, given that I just unlocked Cowboy Peter last night. The skyrocketing coal costs for bank notes are ridiculous.) Looks like fun animated tasks.
Negatives: Not voiced (yet? sometimes they show up later on). Bad face design, in that he doesn’t look much like John Wayne.

One thing to note, and one of the reasons I bought him, is that even if he doesn’t directly help with the following weeks, it looks like the same main currency is used throughout…so by getting him you can get a head start on the following week (which could help you get a head start on the next week, and so on). This is how getting Superman in the DC Comics event a little ways back helped make that event a breeze for me.

I bought this character and for the first time I’ve had a bit of “buyers remorse”. The character is very similar to LaBoeuf insofar that they are both cowboys, so I can’t help wish I’d saved my precious clams for a more “unique” character?
That said, the ability to attack the bandit is helpful and I’ve realised that if you set both Peter AND John Wayne on the task at the same time, but you are down to one heart, simply tap VERY CAREFULLY on ONE of them to defeat the bandit, wait 30 seconds for the bandit to regenerate, then tap on the other one to get an immediate hit and help speed up the whole battle process!